US congresswomen present draft resolution recognizing Nakba
Five US congresswomen present a draft resolution to recognize the Palestinian Nakba and commemorate it annually.
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US congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar
US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives to recognize the Palestinian Nakba.
On Monday, Tlaib introduced the resolution, just one day after the Nakba’s 74th anniversary.
74 years and thousands of martyrs later, #Palestine is still occupied by a criminal entity that violated nearly every single international law for almost three-quarters of a century.#Nakba74 #Nakba pic.twitter.com/BtM23wxT6p
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 16, 2022
The resolution calls on the US government to acknowledge the forced and mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948 by "Israel", based on the US role in supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
It also urges the US Congress to recognize the Nakba and commemorate it annually, reject efforts to deny the event, and support UNRWA by supporting resolutions related to Palestinian refugee rights, including the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 on the right of Palestinians to return to their homes.
Today, I introduced a resolution recognizing the Nakba (catastrophe), where 400 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed, over 700,000 Palestinians uprooted from their homes, and made refugees.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 16, 2022
Tlaib said that “The Nakba is well-documented and continues to play out today."
The Democratic congresswoman stressed that “We must acknowledge that the humanity of Palestinians is being denied when folks refuse to acknowledge the war crimes and human rights violations in apartheid Israel.”
Tlaib mentioned that the resolution is cosponsored by fellow congresswomen Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Tlaib's resolution hailed
Following the announcement, Palestinian rights advocates hailed the suggested resolution.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) thanked Tlaib for “giving voice to this reality, and highlighting the pain and injustice Palestinians have suffered."
The IMEU highlighted that “nearly 75% of the Palestinian population was ethnically cleansed from Palestine and more than 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed."
Thank you to @RepRashida for leading this resolution recognizing the Nakba and to @RepAOC @RepMarieNewman @Ilhan & @BettyMcCollum04 for being original sponsors.
— IMEU (@theIMEU) May 16, 2022
Recognizing the tragedy of the Nakba, which continues today, is an important step towards holding Israel accountable. pic.twitter.com/qGKADSFBZv
“These actions were deliberately planned and carried out by Zionist militias in order to steal Palestinian land,” it added.
Similarly, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights described Tlaib’s resolution as a “historic moment".
“For far too long, the Palestinian experience has been ignored by Washington, and Palestinians have been gaslit for trying to tell their story. Thank you [Tlaib] for giving voice to this reality, and highlighting the pain and injustice Palestinians have suffered,” the group tweeted.
A historic moment: Today @RepRashida has introduced a House resolution recognizing the Palestinian Nakba in commemoration of the 74th anniversary of this catastrophic crime against the Palestinian people that still continues & shapes their experience today. #Nakba74 pic.twitter.com/QJmpqIfpdp
— #SaveMasaferYatta USCPR (@USCPR_) May 16, 2022
“We must shift US foreign policy away from enabling Israel’s ongoing displacement of Palestinians with military funding—and toward accountability,” it added.
Pro-"Israel" US administration
The Israeli occupation receives an annual $3.8 billion in US military aid. This year, Washington provided "Israel" with an additional $1 billion in assistance to “replenish” its Iron Dome missile defense system following the Israeli May 2021 war on Gaza.
It is noteworthy that in late 2016, during Barack Obama's final days in office, then-Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the Nakba.
“When Israel celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2018, the Palestinians will mark a very different anniversary: 70 years since what they call the ‘Nakba’ or catastrophe,” he said at the time.
"Israel" is celebrating the day when it murdered thousands of #Palestinians and forcefully displaced dozens of thousands of families.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 14, 2022
The number of massacres that the Israeli occupation has committed and is still committing reveals one truth: The #Nakba never ended.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/GDlYk2k0Ju
A few days ago, the Central Bureau of Statistics in occupied Palestine announced that the number of Palestinian refugees registered until December 2020 in the records of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) amounted to about 6.4 million Palestinian refugees.
